Precious spelling (with a lower case d and a full stop) didn’t prevent this ABC-backed magazine from proving a success. Benefiting from promotion on the ABC television network and contributions from cooking show personalities, delicious. magazine challenged Donna Hay in the new magazine wars.

The magazine was a joint venture between the ABC and News Limited. From its earliest days, it promoted celebrity chefs, featuring the personalities from ABC food programs. For example, the magazine became the only Australian outlet for content by Jamie Oliver.

The print magazine was just one aspect of the delicious. brand. There were also reader events including dinners and lunches.  From 2006, the magazine sponsored the delicious. Produce Awards, recognising producers from around Australia.

delicious. magazine has been positioned as a premium food title. In 2015 the ABC sold its share of the publication to NewsLife Media. Up to this point, there had been no associated digital platform – a situation the new owners immediately sought to remedy with a new website and an increasing focus on social media.

Under its new ownership, the brand included more lifestyle content. It was also expanded to include Delicious on Sunday in Stellar, a weekly supplement in News Corp’s Sunday eastern-seaboard newspapers. Two coffee table books have also been produced with Harper Collins.

delicious. magazine also has its own (online) food guide, the delicious.100, which it says is “not the oldest guide to restaurants, but it is the freshest”. The guide features the top 100 restaurants in each of Queensland,  New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria, but can only give you the top ten for the other states and territories.

The print magazine’s circulation reached its peak in 2010 and has since declined, but there has been increasing emphasis on digital media. In 2020 News Corp was claiming a readership of 567,000 for the print version and a total digital reach of 865,700.